Park service. What did you use to get it off . Graffiti remover, paint stripper and i just agitated it with a brush and came back and washed it off. Reporter then he began scrubbing black ink from the world war ii memorial. I dont know what would drive somebody to want to disresult what were trying to do by honoring the fallen. Reporter ahead, a current u. S. Military officer tells me why he is taking these attacks of vandalism personally. A day after we saw not my president protests here in washington and other cities, were seeing more action from students in our area, dozens at osborne high in manassas walking out of class this afternoon. Organizers tell us they wanted to protest the president S Immigration policies. Many students say they are the children of a new executive order on immigration as the president s travel ban works through the court system. Meanwhile, there are new guidelines today for cracking down on people coming into the country illegally. Those guidelines from Homeland Security echo some of the president s executive actions including hiring 10,000 new ice agents and 5,000 for border patrol. The memos expand on who can be deported, anyone here illegally whos suspected, charged or convicted of a crime. That includes minor offenses like traffic violations or shoplifting. Its a change from the obama administrations focus on serious crimes. The memos also call for more judges and officers citing a backlog of more than half a million immigration related cases. One area the memos dont address is daca, a program for undocunt here as children. The aclus immigrants rights project released a statement in part kau calling this a hyper aggressive mass deportation policy, saying the courts and public wont allow this to become a reality. Police are trying to track down a man who may have robbed two separate 7elevens in the district. In both cases he had a gun. Reporter there is a story about a most wanted man. Im hoping to get a picture of him soon so i can show it to you. I was talking to the police chief today. Hes most concerned about this guy. He wants him off the street. When you hear the story, youll understand why. Im on Georgia Avenue in petworth at the shell station here. Embedded in the shell station is a 7eleven store. In the dark hours of the morning over the weekend, a man with a shotgun robs the place. Its believed he got a substantial amount of money. Its also believed that same man with that same shotgun lobbed another 7eleven in northeast. Police want to identify him and track him down before someone gets seriously hurt. Now theres Security Camera video of what happened inside. Police are trying to get that. When they give it to us, ill show it to you. Shes left us. Bao bao the National Zoos giant panda is now about three hours into her 16hour flight to her new home in china. Heres a live look at flightaware. Com giving us a chance to see exactly where the fedex plane is right now. Looks like shes nearing the coast of Eastern Canada now. Kristin wright has more on the fond farewell today girl who brought joy to so many people over the last three years. Reporter its been a long goodbye. And those are sometimes the hardest. Seeing that crate go into the truck was a little bit tough. Reporter in washington its not uncommon to cry when pands s have to leave. Its been a hard day. Im also pretty excited for her. Reporter chopper 4 watched bao bao ride from the national zoo, through her city to dulles airport. The giant panda arrived to the tarmac in her special crate. In seconds bao bao was on board. A delicate transfer for a panda whos captured hearts. Our team has worked so hard for so many years to make sure giant pandas stay on the earth. Reporter bao bao will enter a Breeding Program in china. This is what route and hopefully have cubs of her own some day. Then well know weve really done what we wanted to do. This is some expected small light turbulence but were going to go north of that. And well avoid, avoid, avoid. It will be an enjoyable trip. The woman who was speaking so much about bao bao is jenny spotten, she is one of the National Zoos animal handlers there. You know theyre having it tough down there. Also tough out there as this weather although its lovely, it is dry. Doug, we havent had rain in a while or humidity. We really havent. Thats something thats going to continue, we think right over the last week to ten days. Moderate drough down towards washington and fredericksburg, moderate drought as we have not seen much in the way of rain at all month of the entire month of february. Nearly two inches below average since january 1st. Thats way below average. But 8. 34 inches below average for the last six months. Looking to remain dry right on through the early portions of march. This has prompted some fires over the last couple of days. The warmer we get, the drier we stay. That could be a continuing problem. Brush fires numerous in Prince Georges County just yesterday and today. Reporter and its very unusual. The Fire Department is normally ready to deal with this stuff in the spring. Its what they see later on. Definitely not in february. In fact, just a fewou department put out another brush fire. It could be this way for the next few days. Around noon yesterday barbaras husband was looking out their back porch window when he saw flames in the woods. Barbara says the fire quickly spread, just yards from their glendale home. The fire spread two driveways down. At times it was about it looked to me like three feet high. Reporter no one was hurt or had to be evacuated. There were ten brush fires including here in bowie. Yesterday just about all ten of the incidents we handled required more than one engine. Reporter all of the fires are still under investigation. Fire inspectors are looking into the possibility that the one in bowie may have been suspicious. We have some witness accounts that saw some people in the area just prior to the fire starting. Reporter whatever the cause, brush fires are unusual for the month of february. Onecontributing factors is the lack of rain, lower muhammlow lower humidity and the wind. Reporter today another fire that one engine was able to quickly extinguish. Prince georges county is experiencing the kind of dryness that we normally see in early spring. We could be living with these conditions for the firrest of t week. Tips r yourself and folks around you safe, coming up. Right back after the break with a visit by the president to the smithsonians newest mu seem. Were a very divided nation and we have been for many, many years, decades. I mean, you go back to the founding and i would just like to see if we could bring people together. President trump speaking earlier today with nbcs craig melvin as here smithsonians museum of africanamerican history and culture. Mr. Trump also talked about a recent uptick in cases of antisemitism and immigration. Lets start with the fact he was at the museum during black history month. He did address we have a cemetery that has been trashed out in st. Louis. There are problems with jccs around the country, with antisemitism. How did he respond not only to the museum but to your questions about that . This has been one of those subjects where over the past few weeks the response that you get from the white house, those responses have drawn some criticism. Last week of course there was that News Conference in which the report frer from the jewish publication stood up and asked about it. That did in the go well. Then today we thought we would ask once again for the president to condemn antisemitism and those who are enchanging in it right now around this country. Here was the president s response to that question. Its terrible. Its horrible. Whether its antisemitism or racism or anything you want to think about having to do with the divide, antisemitism is likewise, its just terrible. Craig, you also asked about immigration this morning too. He said something that weve heard him say before, needing people who love our country. Did he expand on that any today . Not so much. In the conversation that we had we should point out that conversation came before those clarification orders from the department of Homeland Security. But no. Weve heard the president talk in broad terms. However, that being said, he did confirm that by the end of the week we will have some Additional Guidance on the new orders with regards to the travel ban. Of course, the nint shot down the president s original travel ban. The thinking now is that he is going to come back with something thats a little bit broader in scope, perhaps. When he was at the museum, was there any exhibit that seemed to strike him that you noticed . Thats a good question, because you got the sense that the museum did move him. We have seen and heard this president full of bluster before. That was not the President Trump that we saw. By the time he had gotten to us, he had spent roughly an hour touring the museum looking. Youve been to this museum. It really is breathtaking. He talked about the muhammad ali exhibit being his favorite. But he also admitted that his favorite exhibit was something that took him aback. And his housing and urban Development Secretary dr. Ben carson w w he has an exhibit on the third floor. They both enjoyed seeing that as well. But the president s wife Melania Trump was at this museum last week. He said that she came back and she was raving about it in such a way that he felt compelled to spend some time at the black history museum. Its old home week for you on a personal note. How much are you missing nbc 4, huh . This studio. Some things dont change. This is a special place. I walked in. I saw my man jim vance sitting over there. Vance, you dont age. Doreen and you guys and i just saw pat in the halls, as you know, this is such a special place. Its always good to be able to come back. Be well. We havent aged either. I know. Its crazy. You can always catch craig weekdays on recent numbers from the cdc show a steady increase in the number of suicides in the United States in the past 15 years. One longstanding tool in prevention is the hotline. And thats expanding. It may be helping to change minds. News4s Doreen Gentzler is here to tell us about that. For a lot of people in Emotional Distress a crisis hotline can literally be a lifeline. But a lhotline doesnt always have to be on the phone. How one local Mental Health provider is using other forms of communications to help change mids and save lives. This volunteer at every mind is chatting with a 12yearold who reached out. Hes really upset about something that happened today. Starting in 2012we chat services and then about two years ago we added Text Services to really meet people where they are. We really want to be available when anybodys in crisis wherever they are. Rachel larkin is the director of crisis intervention and prevention in the every mind. Every mind has had a crisis phone line since the 70s. The volunteers there handle everything from Suicide Prevention to people who need to talk about their day. The texts are particularly looking at young people. Thats how they communicate. As a middleaged person i know that i dont actually speak to anyone on the phone anymore. All my communications are via email or text. The electronic communications, its a wonderful opportunity. The anonymous aspect of text or chat allows people to open up more quickly. Its bringing down a lot of barriers that people had to communicating when theyre feeling badly or in crisis. Its not without its challenges. You really have to pay a lot of attention, choose your words carefully, really delve into what the person is saying and reflect their emotions and make sure youre on the same page as them. Rachel says being available through text and chat has helped every mind help people and helped to spread the word theyre available for anyone in crisis. Amazing amount of work you can do and help you can give over phone or chat or text and get people to a better place or get them connected with the right folks. Ever mind gets out the word about their texting and chatting services at schools and community events. You can find out more by going to our nbc washington app and searching changing minds. The every mind folks are looking for volunteers to help staff the hours that its available to people. News for your health, the most important lifestyle change you can make that will help reduce the risk of Breast Cancer recurring. Also images of this dog named mama shivering in the cold. We are loving this weather, but we know we need rain. Right. And we need the pollen to go away. That was my next question. Do you suffer from allergies . Yeah, we are. The tree pollen way up there. Obviously its way early for this time of year because of the fact that weve seen so much warm weather. That warm weather just wants to continue over the next few days. Take a look at this. Going to be a nice sunset. Weve seen some mid to high level clouds continuing to come in. Check that out, a sun dog right there. Its right there. See that right there. If i could pan to the left, i would. A sun dog or a sub sun forms at about 23. 5 degrees away from the sun. Anyway. Let if you have your polarized sunglasses, it looks even better. Anyway, sorry. Okay. 55 degrees the current temperature out there right now. Temperatures going down tonight, but not too much. Because of the cloud cover we stay well above average. 54 degrees in winchester right now, 58 in culpepper. 49 over towards annapolis. Much cooler along the water with that wind coming out of the east. That wind will be shifting tonight and that will give us the warmer air tomorrow. No rain. Again, we do need the rain. I showed you how dry we are. Weve got two systems moving to the east, one to the north, one to the south. But the one to the south will move to the south. And the one to the north will stay to the north. You could see the showers around buffalo. But for us, not much of a chance. Maybe some sprinkles overnight into early tomorrow or dry and warm. In the 60s to near 70s just back to the west. The northeast has stayed on the cold side, only 43 right now in new york. Were going to get the warm air moving back in across our region. Tomorrow, 66 degrees the high temperature. Mixture of clouds and sun. Much warmer. And that will once again continue with the pollen. The pollen today on the medium to high side. It is quite high for trees but going up over the next couple of days, thursday really bad, friday really bad. Saturday we do get some relief. I think well start to see some rain on saturday. Look at these highs. 72 on thursday, 74 on friday. Temperature on saturday of 70 degrees. Before that rain moves through, that will be p. M. Showers, most of them should be light but could see a rumble of thunder. And much cooler weather on sunday, back down to 50 degrees. Windchills will be a factor week. One of the warmest februarys ever. Looks to continue that way in march. That pollen is going to make me lose my voice on thursday and friday. This has been the subject of controversy since it was first hung in the halls of the capitol. Today theres even more drama surrounding the painting that was taken down, put back up and taken down again. Reporter metros leader says the financial picture looks bleak and it could be getting worse. Reporter the biggest acquisition for the nats in the off right now at 5 30, a freezing and neglected pit bull sparks a change in the law in the district. But first tough times for metro. The warning about the future for the Transit Agency and what that means for riders. Metros general manager painted a breleak financial picture today, saying as soon as he plugs this years budget gap, more problems will be coming down the line. Transportation reporter tuss talking one on one with the gm today. Reporter its really as simple as this. The gm says he needs help and he needs our region to pitch in. Metros gm says hes looked under every rock to find savings at the Transit Agency, from slashing jobs to potentially cutting service. But a breaking point is fast approaching. Ive used up just about every tool i have. I can continue to press. I will. On absenteeism and those things, but the big numbers just arent there. Reporter what the gm is talking about isnt exactly new, but as metro tackled a nearly 300 million budget gap this year, its clear theyre going to need help. One of this i things ive he repeatedly is reporter while the gm has not called for a dedicated source of funding for the region specifically, others have said Something Like a sales tax needs to be set up that would specifically fund metro. It does have its issues but still so does 270, so does 495. Reporter do you feel like youre getting what you pay for . Yeah. Reporter for now, metros leader putting the region on notice that something financially is going to have to change. All of this happening as metro continues to shed riders. Coming up, ill tell you why metros leader is standing by safe track. The Virginia Railway express wants to raise the price you pay for tickets. The vre has scheduled public hearings to gather feedback. Ticket prices would go up 3 starting in july. If you want to know when and where those public hearings will be held, just search vre fares in our nbc washington app. An arrest in a deadly stabbing in Seat Pleasant earlier this month. Marlon marshall accused of stabbing jamal barnes. Investigators believe barnes was arguing with and a second man. Marshall is being held without bond, charged with murder. A lawsuit tonight over that controversial painting that was removed from the u. S. Capitol. Missouri congressman william clay says removing its violates his constituents First Amendment right to freedom of expression. The painting depicts Police Officers as pigs holding guns. In america if you dont like a painting, you go to the next painting or you leave the gallery. Were saying lets go back to the freedom of speech. If not, were going to have a serious problem if we have to litigate the offensiveness of every piece of artwork in the capitol. Maryland senators are pushing for a statue of